Handling Education in third edition

In the third edition rules, Characteristics and Difficulties (replacing the Potentials of prior editions) are rated on a five level scale noted in adverbs: Pas (1), Peu (2), Assez (3), « … » (4), and Très (5), translating to English as Not (1), Low (2), Enough (3), "…" (4), and Very (5). In real world terms, these respectively represent disability, below average, average, above average, and the peak of human potential. Characteristics and Difficulties are then noted with adjectives: e.g. Dominant Ka is measured using the adjective Initiated. The scaling applies to both Physical Characteristics (Agile, Charming, Endurant, Intelligent, and Strong) and Social Characteristics (Wealth, Education, Relationships). 

Since the book was written for a French audience, the Education Characteristic (measured with the adjective Learnèd, corresponding to academic degrees) uses the French education system as its basis. This gives the following examples:

Not Learnèd: young child of Preparatory Course; senile person, suffering from Alzheimer's disease, trisomy 21 or autism.

Low Learnèd: baccalaureate level.

Enough Learnèd: "average" level corresponding to a baccalaureate with honors or to a university level.

Learnèd: advanced university level — agrégé, normalien, enarque…

Very Learnèd: extremely cultured people; linked to any particular level of study — great journalists, politicians or intellectuals.

The book explains that the Education and Intelligent Characteristics serve different purposes. Learnèd measures general culture and acquired knowledge, whereas Intelligent measures innate smarts, reasoning and personal memory. To know what period Beethoven lived is a question of Education, not Intelligent. Identifying the composer of an unsigned musical score by analyzing the construction and harmonics would test Intelligent, as it is a question of comparison and logic. GMs are expected to use their own common sense when determining which is more appropriate.

For the United States, this means the citizen average (i.e. "some college" to an associate's degree) would be Not Learnèd: equivalent to disability as the book states. To reflect a less provincial measurement of education that is less punitive to PCs of American origin, I propose the following standard instead:

  • Not Learnèd: no change
  • Low Learnèd: no higher education
  • Enough Learnèd: undergraduate degree — associate's degree, bachelor's degree…
  • Learnèd: graduate degree — master's degree, professional degree, doctorate degree…
  • Very Learnèd: no change

Hope you enjoyed!

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